Garment hanger



J. M. WYATT GARMENT HANGER Filed Nov. 25, 1955 April 2, 1957 INVENTOR. I JP-M$ .Wwm-w ATTOQNEYS United States Patent Ofice Patented Apr. 2, 1957 GARMENT HANGER James M. Wyatt, Independence, Mo.

Application November 25, 1955, Serial No. 548,998

2 Claims. (Cl. 223-92) Conventional garment hangers have, in general, a deficiency as regards the proper support of certain type of garments. In particular, low-necked, sleeveless dresses and blouses tend to slip off the arms of the hanger, as a result of which it is conventional practice to pin gar ments of this type to the hanger.

This is, of course, an inconvenience, and further, the pins penetrate the material of garments tending to damage the same.

The main object of the present invention is to provide an improved garment hanger, particularly designed for supporting garments of the type stated, although it will be understood that the hanger can be used for supporting various other types of garments.

A more specific object is to include, on each of the outwardly extending arms of the hanger, longitudinally spaced, upwardly projecting abutments adapted to limit slippage of the shoulder straps of the supported garments in opposite directions along the arms of the hanger, thus to insure the retention of the garment upon the hanger.

Another object is to so locate the abutments relative to the angle of inclination of the respective arms as to insure to the maximum extent that the garments will be supported in a wrinkle-free condition.

A further object of importance is to provide a hanger as described which will be simply and inexpensively designed, and will be capable of manufacture from any of various materials, such as wire, plastic, or wood without affecting adversely the operational characteristics of the hanger.

A further object of importance is to provide a hanger which will be so designed as to include a belt-supporting portion intermediate the opposite ends of the hanger, with the inner abutments of the arms also serving to limit slippage of the belt longitudinally of the hanger.

Yet another object is to provide a hanger as stated in which the inner, garment-engaging abutments of the hanger will serve as means permitting attachment of the arm portion of the hanger to a suspension hook portion, with said abutments being so shaped as to hold the arm and suspension hook portions against relative movement in a direction longitudinally of the arm portion.

Other objects will appear from the following description, the claims appended thereto, and from the annexed drawing, in which like reference characters designate like parts throughout the several views, and wherein:

Figure l is a perspective view of the garment hanger formed according to the present invention; and

Figure 2 is a front elevational view thereof on a reduced scale, a supported garment being shown fragmentarily.

The garment hanger constituting the present invention can be made of wire, plastic, or wood and if made of plastic would be formed as a single, molded piece of material. In the illustrated example, the hanger is shown as being made of wire, and in this embodiment of the invention, is formed of two lengths of wire one of which is bent to provide a suspension hook member generally designated 10, and the other which is shaped to form a garment support member 12.

The suspension hook member is formed of a length of stout wire material bent upon itself substantially medially between its opposite ends at the location 14. From the bend or fold 14, the resulting side by side portions of the length of wire are extended along parallel, curving lines to provide suspension hook portions 16, 18 cooperating to form a suspension hook engageable over a clothes bar or other overhead support, not shown.

At the lower end of the suspension book, there is pro vided a short, substantially vertical stem composed of the lower extremities of the portions 16, 18, and the portion 16 is bent at an obtuse angle to the stem to provide a support portion 20 inclined in a direction downwardly, outwardly from the lower end of the suspension hook and terminating at its outer, lower end, in a loop 22 lying in a plane disposed transversely of the garment hanger.

The suspension hook portion 18, at the lower end of the suspension hook, is formed into a small loop 24 embracing the lower end of the portion 16, and then extends in downwardly diverging relation to the support portion 20 to provide a support portion 26. The portions 20, 26 cooperate to provide a support yoke in the shape of a shallow inverted V, with portion 26 having a loop 28 similar to the loop 22.

The garment support member 12 is also formed from a single length of wire material, having a straight intermediate portion 30 merging at its opposite ends into upwardly projecting crimps 34 of inverted V-shape the apex portions of which are engaged loosely in the loops 22, 28. The crimps provide inner abutments for a garment G, in a manner to be described in greater detail hereinafter, and at their outer ends merge into garment support arms 32, which are inclined slightly out of the horizontal in a direction toward the free ends thereof.

At their outer ends, the arm 32 are integrally formed with upwardly and inwardly extending stop fingers 36, forming outer abutments for the garment G, these being formed with loops 38 at their upper ends to prevent damage to the garment when it is being put on or is being taken off the hanger. The garment illustrated is of the sleeveless type, which heretofore has tended to slip ofi the arms of the hanger. As will be noted, the provision of spaced projections 34, 36 on each of the arms 32, disposed at opposite sides of each shoulder strap, prevents slippage of the garment oil the hanger, and hold the shoulder straps against substantial movement longitudinally of the garment support member in either direction.

It is important to note that the inclination of the arms 32 should be such as to prevent wrinkling of the garment when the same is supported, and it has been found that in a typical embodiment, a garment support member having an overall length of 16 inches, with each arm 32 being approximately of the overall length, should be formed with the arm 32 inclined to an extent no greater than will cause the distance A, between the plane of the intermediate portion 30 and a plane parallel thereto and passing through the outer ends of the arms 32, to be not over A of an inch.

If the hanger were to be made from a single piece of material as for example of molded plastic, the suspension hook member 10 and the garment support member would be integrally connected.

The intermediate portion 30 provides a belt-supporting portion, and the inner projections or abutments 34 define not only shoulders limiting movement of the shoulder straps inwardly toward the suspension hook, but also define, at their opposite sides, shoulders or abutments limiting movement of the belt supported on portion 30 in opposite directions. Further, the clips 34 of the illustrated embodiment serve the additional function of preventing relative longitudinal slippage of the suspension hook member 10 and the garment support member 12.

It is believed apparent that the invention is not necessarily confined tothe specific use or uses thereofdescribed above, since it may be utilized for-any purpose to which it may be suited. Nor is the invention to benecessarily limited to the specific construction illustrated and described, since such construction is only intended to be illustrative of the principles, it being considered that the invention comprehends any minor change in construction that may be permitted within the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A garment hanger comprising two lengths of wire material one shaped to provide a suspension hook member and the other shaped to provide agarment support member, the suspension hook member including side by side suspension hook portions forming a suspension hook and diverting downwardly from the lower end of the hook to form a support yoke having loops at its outer ends, the garment support member having a straight horizontal intermediate portion and garment support arms projecting outwardly from the ends of the intermediate portion and inclined slightly from the horizontal, the intermediate portion of said garment support member being connected to the loops of the support yoke, and an inner and an outer abutment projecting upwardly from the arms and limiting slippage of a garment in opposite directions therealong.

2. A garment hanger comprising two lengths of wire material one shaped to provide a suspension hook member and the other shaped to provide a garment support member, the suspension hook member including side-byside suspension hook portions forming a suspension hook and diverging downwardly from the lower end of the hook to form a support yoke having loops at its outer ends, the garment support member having a straight, horizontal intermediate portion and garment support arms projecting outwardly from the ends of the intermediate portion and inclined slightly from the horizontal, said garment support meniberbeing formed with crimps of substantially inverted V-shape passing through said loops to connect the respective members to each other against relative movement longitudinally of the garment support member, said crimps connecting the intermediate portion to the respective garment support arms and forming inner abutments on the garment support arms limiting movement of a supported garment along said arms in a direction toward the suspension'hook, the garment support arms at their outer ends being integrally formed with upwardly projecting extensions providing outer abutments for limiting movement of said garment longitudinally of the arms in a direction away from the suspension hook.

References'Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,828,6ll Mikota Oct. 20, 1931 2,037,077 Knote Apr. 14, 1936 2,574,963 Dwyer Nov. 13, 1951 

